A flash or black powder salute is very easy to make inside a simple caradboard tube. BP ones go of with a bang, but if you use certain types of flash powder, you can get it to go BOOM! Note that in some country's its illegal to use more the a certain amount of explosive in one firework. This is especially true with some of the more powerful flash mixtures involving potassium perchlorate.

INSTRUCTIONS:

MATERIALS:
Thick cardboard tube, about 100mm long and 18mm diameter (click here to make)
BP cellulose laquer
10s of fast burning fuse
Explosive material (BP, flash powder, gun cotten)

TOOLS:
Glue gun
3mm drill bit

METHOD:

1. First you need to seal of one end of the tube. Do this by squeezing a genours amount of hot glue inside one end of the tube, and squeeze the two sides together untill the glue sets.

2. Drill a hole about 3mm big in the middle of the tube. Insert one end of the fuse into the hole and seal it in with a dab of laquer.

3. Hold it on its end and fill up with explosive material, leaving about 30mm from the top empty.

4. Close this end with glue as in step 1. Most explsoves are not set of by the heat from the glue, but to be safe, place a small amount of the explosive on the bench and cover in hot glue, and test if the heat will set it off.

5. Light fuse, and then throw or run away. Bang or BOOM!

Note: There are many different way to seal of the end of the tube, for example a piece of dowel shoved in the end with a screw going through the dowel perpendicular to the axis of the tube. However, these methods are unsafe because screws and bits of dowel can create deadly shrapnel. I have found glue to be an easy and safe way to seal of the end of the tubes. Never use metal tubes ether. They are not slautes but pipe bombs.